Lexicon is a design language that provides a common framework for building consistent UIs. Clay, the web implementation of Lexicon, is an extension of Bootstrap’s open source CSS Framework. Bootstrap is by far the most popular CSS framework on the web. Built with Sass, Clay CSS fills the front-end gaps between Bootstrap and the specific needs of Liferay DXP.
Bootstrap features have been extended to cover more use cases. Here are some of the new components added by Clay CSS:
- Aspect Ratio
- Cards
- Dropdown Wide and Dropdown Full
- Figures
- Nameplates
- Sidebar / Sidenav
- Stickers
- SVG Icons
- Timelines
- Toggles
Several reusable CSS patterns have also been added to help accomplish time consuming tasks such as these:
- truncating text
- content filling the remaining container width
- truncating text inside table cells
- table cells filling remaining container width and table cells only being as wide as their content
- open and close icons inside collapsible panels
- nested vertical navigations
- slide out panels
- notification icons/messages
- vertical alignment of content
Clay CSS is bundled with two sub-themes: Clay Base and Atlas. Clay Base is Liferay DXP’s Bootstrap API extension. It adds all the features and components you need and inherits Bootstrap’s styles. As a result, Clay Base is fully compatible with third party themes that leverage Bootstrap’s Sass variable API.
Atlas is Liferay DXP’s custom Bootstrap theme that is used in the Classic Theme. Its purpose is to overwrite and manipulate Bootstrap and Clay Base to create its classic look and feel. Atlas is equivalent to installing a Bootstrap third party theme.
This section covers these topics:
- Customizing the Atlas and Clay base themes
- Integrating third party themes with Clay